


Five Times MJ Steals Peter’s Backpack

by CWMaddy



Category: Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017)
Genre: Five Plus One, Gen, Humor, Identity Reveal, Michelle Jones Is a Good Bro, No Endgame Spoilers, Precious Peter Parker
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-04-28
Updated: 2019-05-28
Packaged: 2020-02-09 07:28:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 1,594
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18633586
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CWMaddy/pseuds/CWMaddy
Summary: ...and one time she doesn’t.Or Peter's backpacks always end up going missing while he's out on patrol. And there's actually a logical reason for it.





	1. I

**Author's Note:**

> I call her Michelle during the majority of this story because most of it takes place pre-SM:H, so she didn't go by MJ yet. Eventually, though, I do switch to MJ. 
> 
> I wrote this back in 2017 when the movie came out, but never posted it because I didn’t finish it. I’ve got like 3/5 of it completed. But I’m hoping that finally posting it will give me inspiration to totally finish it.

Here's the thing: Michelle's not an idiot. She is very aware of the fact that Peter is Spider Man. 

She's known Peter for years, and even though they barely talk, Michelle considers him to be one of her only friends. She watches more than she speaks, and so she can pinpoint the exact moment that Peter changed. 

_On Friday, Peter was a nerd. He was a science fiction fanboy and a gangly teen that didn't know what to do with his hands, so he wildly waved them around as he spoke._

_On Monday, Peter was still a nerd. But he was different in a way that only true observers could see. His eyes were constantly searching; his body was tense like he was holding back from flinching out of his seat. In gym, it looked like he was struggling to_ not _lift weights, when just last week it'd been the other way around._

_The week that Peter Parker changed was the week that criminals started to fear what lurked inside the shadows._

_She'd like to take all the credit and claim that only with her top notch observation skills,_ she'd _been the one to single handedly discover the secret. But it was actually all due to Peter's absolute obliviousness._

_It was almost too easy. She had been walking home after school one afternoon, when she just so happened to walk past the alley that the webbed vigilante was suiting up in. And who might that person be, underneath the witty attitude and red and blue suit?_

_Well, none other than her friend Peter, of course!_

_Michelle was severely disappointed in him. It was broad daylight and yet here Parker was, dawning his mask and tights. He wasn't even ducking behind the dumpsters for better coverage! And_ he _was supposed to be the smart one. It's like he wasn't even trying to keep it a secret._

_The icing on the cake was when Peter webbed up his backpack and swung off without a care, not noticing that he had a one woman audience. Michelle internally scoffed at his actions. Anyone passing by could easily see the bag and just cut it out of its cocoon of webs to snatch it._

_So naturally, that's exactly what she does._

She has a good excuse for why she did it! Michelle isn’t one to do something and not think first. She only wanted to protect Peter. She took his bag so no one else could. So it wouldn't fall into the wrong hands. She has no interest in outing his identity, so keeping his back pack (which had Peter's school ID in it, she came to discover) safe from the seedy townspeople of Queens had seemed like the best option at the time.

But even with all her consideration, there is something that Michelle didn’t account for.

Like giving Peter his stuff back.

That is the one thing she didn't plan out when she'd stolen the bag, although she doesn’t like using the word 'stole' to describe her actions. She prefers 'taking into custody for protective purposes'. It sounds cooler.

Anyway, Michelle is at a loss. There is no easy way to do this without being awkward. It's not like she can just walk up to Peter at school and say, "Hey I saw this sitting in an alley the other day and checked inside to see whose it was. Oh, by the way, I know you're Spider Man."

That'd be just as bad as standing on a roof top, holding up the bag like it was baby Simba, and shouting "Hey Spider-Man, I stole your stuff to keep you safe! Also do you have the answer to question four on the math homework?"

It just wouldn't go well.

So when she overhears Peter explaining to Ned that his old backpack somehow tore beyond repair, and that on a completely unrelated note he also needs a copy of all the notes, she feels a bit guilty.

But not guilty enough to stop herself from taking it again the next time she sees his bag abandoned.


	2. II

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry the chapters are so short, I hope you like it anyway!

The second time Michelle comes across Peter's backpack, it's evening and the sun has almost set completely. She had been at decathlon practice, one that had run late because her team has been lacking in certain subjects. 

Peter had skipped out on it today. He’d used an incredibly flimsy excuse (one so ridiculously unbelievable that Michelle can barely recall it now) revolving around his aunt and grocery shopping, before practically skipping out of the room. 

Michelle wonders if everybody knows that Peter is Spider-Man, but just take pity on him and pretend to be none the wiser. Because there’s no way she’s the _only_ one smart enough to figure it out. It’s too obvious for that to be the case. 

She used to watch Hannah Montana as a child, and wonders who is better at keeping their identity under wraps. The answer comes to her almost immediately: Miley is better at it. Then Michelle pictures Peter dancing around in a blonde wig and laughs out loud. 

Subconsciously, she slows down as she approaches the alley that she’d first seen Peter suiting up in. It’s unlikely that his stuff is there now, but from her understanding he goes on patrol almost every day after school. 

He could be done already, maybe he’s called it a night and retrieved his bag all on his own. She doesn’t even know if he uses that same alley every time, because she doesn’t always take this shortcut home. Sometimes she likes to take the long way, just to have extra time to think, but today she’s tired. 

Despite all the chances of Peter’s stuff not being in the alley, she still peers in through the metal bars. She zeroes in on a backpack webbed to the side of the dumpster. This one is turquoise, and has little sharks decorating the pockets.

The webbing on the bag has started to melt away by now, and the bag is beginning to slide down the dumpster that it's stuck to. When she walks over and gives it a firm tug, the whole thing just peels off. 

Michelle gives Peter the benefit of the doubt before snatching it, and checks inside to see if it actually belongs to him before taking it home with her. It does. His school ID is in the front pocket, and Michelle sighs in disappointment. 

Michelle is tempted to leave a note behind that reads **Stop leaving your ID in your bag. Anybody could find it.** But in the end, she ultimately decides against it. One, she doesn't want to make Peter worry that someone evil knows who he is. Two, the only thing she'd be able to use to stick the paper to the dumpster is her gum, and not all the flavor has gone away yet.

She shakes her head as she walks home, and stuffs his bag in her closet with the other one, because she can't find it in herself to throw either of them away.


	3. III

Michelle can't say that she's surprised when, one afternoon, she catches someone trying to snag Peter's stuff by hacking at the webs with a shard of glass. That's exactly what she'd been saying would happen all along.

The guy isn't getting very far, the glass not near sharp enough to clear away the near-impenetrable substance on the bag. But she knows that she can't just leave him to it, because eventually the webbing will wear off and then it's first come first serve. 

So she shouts at him. 

"Hey! What do you think you're doing?" She calls as she stomps up to the frail looking, attempted thief. She can tell that, by the looks of him, he's not dangerous. He wouldn't be using a meager piece of glass as a tool if he'd been a threat. 

The guy spins around almost comically fast, dropping the wannabe-weapon as he raises his shaking hands above his head. His grey beard is matted, his face is dirty, and his clothes have small holes in them. He looks terrified. 

"Sp-Spider Man?" He whimpers. 

Michelle is taken aback. Either this guy is delirious or on drugs. "Do I look like Spider-Man to you?" She asks.

The question is rhetorical, but the man shakes his head rapidly anyway, eyes wide and hands jittering. Michelle gets a heavy feeling in her chest at the sight of him. He looks desperate.

She gives him a ten dollar bill and tells him to scram. He takes the donation generously and high tails it out of the alley in seconds.

Michelle takes up his action of freeing the backpack from its barrier, this time with the pocket knife that she always carries around. It _is_ New York, after all. Hauling the bag over her shoulder, she stops for a moment and considers maybe just leaving it. 

She can just retrieve whatever is inside that can compromise Peter's identity, and then leave his school supplies and civilian clothes. After all, Peter is probably getting tired of his continuously shrinking wardrobe. 

Michelle puts the bag down to fish out his ID, only to growl in frustration when she sees the words **Property of Peter Parker** sewn into the material. She clearly over estimated Peter's intelligence. 

"Damn you, Parker," She mutters as she drags home yet another one of his backpacks. She's starting to run out of closet space. 

Peter is so lucky that she's nice enough to do this. 

This is the last time, though, she swears to herself.

**Author's Note:**

> Leave a comment down below if you liked it, pretty please I’ll love you forever.


End file.
